1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to drawing generation apparatuses and, more particularly, to a drawing generation apparatus for generating an assembly drawing, a specification drawing and the like for a product.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drawing generation apparatus known in the art may comprise a storage device for storing CAD drawing data of various versions together with associated search keys, a search device for receiving an input of a search key related to a desired specification and retrieving a related drawing from the storage device, a display device for displaying the drawing data retrieved from the storage apparatus and a printing device for printing the drawing that matches the selected specification.
While the apparatus described above allows selection of drawings that match respective desired specifications by storing a large number of drawings, the storage device that meets this requirement should have an extremely large capacity. Another requirement is that the search device should perform a search efficiently.
In one approach toward improvement of the related-art drawing apparatus, drawing data for individual components of a product are stored in the storage device so that drawings that match similar specifications are created by combining component drawing data. In this approach, it is intended that the capacity requirement for the storage device be controlled.
In the apparatus as described above, a drawing matching a specification is created by inputting a desired specification, retrieving associated component drawing data from the storage device, manually combining the component drawing data and entering dimension lines.
Since the drawing data that meet various specifications should be stored in the drawing generation apparatus described above, the storage device is required to have a large storage capacity. Also, the level of performance is so high that the apparatus is not cost effective.
Another aspect of the related-art drawing generation apparatus designed to reduce the storage capacity of the storage device by storing component drawing data is that combining of component drawing data may require an extensive manual operation.
The disadvantage of the related-art drawing generation apparatus in actual applications will be described in detail. For example, the requirement for configuration of a control valve used in an air-conditioning facility or a work measurement and control system that meets the needs of customers is so varied that as many as hundreds of thousands to several millions of configurations should be available. The storage device storing the entirety of the drawing data needs to have an extremely large capacity. Combining of the drawing data involves complicated operations, causing a displacement from proper positions and requiring an enormous amount of time to draw dimension lines with respect to the combined component drawing.
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide drawing generation. apparatuses in which the aforementioned problems are eliminated.
Another and more specific object is to provide a drawing generation apparatus in which component drawings are stored in the form of a database to prevent the required capacity of a storage device from being increased, in which combining of component drawing data is performed easily-and efficiently, and in which dimension lines are easily provided.
Still another object is to provide a drawing generation apparatus in which as many as several tens to several millions of drawings are managed as logical entity instead of physical entity so that the drawings are efficiently managed.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by a drawing generation apparatus for generating a drawing that matches a specification by selecting component drawings based on one of input specification information and drawing information, and combining the component drawings by pasting a source component drawing to a destination component drawing, comprising: positioning markers provided in each source component drawing and destination component drawing involved and displayed to indicate a source reference position and a destination reference position, respectively; a component drawing database for storing the component drawings; a component information database that allows selection of the component drawings based on one of the input specification information and the drawing information, and outputting component drawing information relating to the component drawings; and an engine unit for retrieving the component drawings from said component drawing database based on the component drawing information from said component information database, and combining the component drawings such that the positioning markers are aligned.
By dividing a drawing into component drawings, the capacity of a database is decreased. Combining of the component drawings can be performed accurately and efficiently using the positioning markers. Therefore, the amount of work involved is significantly reduced. Since the drawings are managed as logical entity instead of physical entity, management of the drawings is simplified and improved in efficiency.
A dimension line for each of the component drawings may be provided with a dimension line positioning marker corresponding to one of the source reference position and the destination reference position, and the component drawings may be combined such that the dimension line positioning markers are aligned, causing the dimension line to be one of extended and compressed.